


(Im)Perfect Christmas

by wallstracktwo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:43:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wallstracktwo/pseuds/wallstracktwo
Summary: If you asked Harry where the last place he thought he'd find himself on Christmas Eve was, he'd have answered - knocking on his neighbor's door, during a blackout. Yet, here he is.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 14
Kudos: 157
Collections: 1D Christmas Fest





	(Im)Perfect Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Anna for editing once again - you are a life saver!
> 
> I own nothing except the words (and mistakes) written below.
> 
> Please do not repost this anywhere. I am not allowing for any reposts or translations. Thank you for understanding.
> 
> Without further ado...
> 
> Enjoy!

“ _ Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the  _ \- what the fuck?” Harry cut off his singing and stopped wrapping the present that was in front of him on the kitchen counter. He stood still as the lights and Christmas music that had been playing in the background flickered off, then on, then off again before finally coming back on. “No, no, no. Not tonight. Come  _ on,”  _ he said out loud, to his empty apartment.

Michael Bublé had started singing about making spirits bright again, but Harry hesitated going back to his wrapping, instead deciding to reach for his phone. When the screen didn’t light up he realized it was dead and rolled his eyes. “Of fucking course.” Hoping to at least get it charged a portion of the way in case the power completely went out, he plugged it into its charger.

He also decided he had better find a flashlight as well and opened the junk drawer that was to his left. He began rummaging around for a flashlight as the lights and music flickered off momentarily before once again coming back on.

“Not again.” He huffed and just as he pulled a flashlight from the drawer, the power went out completely, leaving him standing in total darkness, except for the small beam of light coming from the tiny flashlight he was holding. “Fuck. C’mon, it’s Christmas Eve for christ sakes.”

_ Great,  _ he thought to himself.  _ Not only do I have to spend Christmas Eve alone, but now I have to do it in the dark as well? _

He sighed. All he had wanted was a quiet Christmas at home with his family. 

It had been a rough year for him - he had discovered Jeremy, his boyfriend of two years, had been cheating on him. The result was Harry breaking up with him which unfortunately meant that Harry had to move out of Jeremy’s apartment and find a place of his own - on extremely short notice. He discovered an online ad for his current apartment and since the landlord was desperate to find a new tenant, he was able to sign a lease and move in right away.

As if that hadn’t been bad enough, he had also lost half of his friends in the break up. Friends who had promised to stay neutral slowly began taking sides - most of them not on Harry’s. He wound up unfriending the majority of them on social media and began looking for a new group of people to hang out with.

With the holidays approaching and with no real actual plans, his mom suggested he fly home for the holidays. They had been talking on the phone one night and he had mentioned he wasn’t looking forward to being alone this Christmas. When he heard her suggestion he logged onto his computer immediately after they had hung up and booked a flight from California to upstate New York.

He had taken care of everything, accounting for almost everything, with one exception - Mother Nature.

Two days before he was supposed to fly east, New York had gotten hit with one of the worst snowstorms it had seen in recent history. Which meant that all of the airports were closed and all flights cancelled for the foreseeable future, leaving Harry to spend Christmas alone.

So instead of being home with his parents and sister on Christmas Eve, he was now fumbling around on his hands and knees, looking underneath his kitchen sink in the dark for batteries and a back up flashlight.

_ Thump. Bang. Crash. _

_ “Ouch! Jesus christ, Clifford! What the fuck, boy?” _

Harry looked up to the ceiling, listening to what sounded like his upstairs neighbor stumbling around banging and throwing stuff all over his apartment.

He took a deep breath, reminding himself that it wasn’t necessarily entirely the man’s fault that every single noise and every single movement he made echoed through the vents, travelling down to Harry’s apartment.

The old, small brick building only housed six tenants - two on the first floor, two on the second and two on the third. And that’s what had first attracted Harry to the building, although it’s immediate need for a tenant was a close second.

The apartment he had shared with Jeremy was fifteen stories and because there were so many people living there, he never had the chance to get to know the majority of them. 

But from the moment he had moved into his new apartment, he felt welcome and his neighbors seemed more like a family than simply people living in the same building.

Over the past five months he had gotten to know and be friendly with all of the occupants that lived at 28 Sunset Hill Drive. All except one - the man that lived in 3A, directly above him.

Three weeks after Harry had moved in, he had walked upstairs to introduce himself to the tenant in 3A, but no one ever came to the door. Well, no human anyway. A dog barked on the other side of the door for a few minutes before Harry gave up and left.

Since that time, the new school year had started and his job as a high school math teacher began taking up more and more of his time, leaving him less and less time to get acquainted with the man living upstairs.

He had no idea what the man looked like or what he did for a living, just that he lived alone and had a pet dog.

The only other thing he had learned over the past few months was that his neighbor was  _ loud _ . Arctic Monkeys and Oasis blared from his radio at one am, his dog ran back and forth when it was dinner time, video game effects echoed down to Harry’s apartment almost every Thursday night and battle scenes in movies roared to life in their small building.

Every sound was amplified, every step was magnified, every voice was intensified - like the curses he was currently spewing as he stumbled around upstairs.

Although he was constantly being loud and abrasive, there was a part of Harry that felt a little better knowing that if he was going to be in the dark for an extended period of time, then at least he wasn’t alone in the building. 

He knew that the rest of his neighbors had left for various destinations - Mrs. Potts, who lived directly across the hall had gone out of town to visit her daughter’s family and wouldn’t be back until after the New Year. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, who lived in 3B, were on a holiday vacation in the Bahamas. Mr. Gonzalez, who lived in 1A, was in Colorado skiing with his brother’s family and Ms. Tucker in 1B was celebrating Christmas in Hawaii with her fiancé.

And Harry? He was  _ supposed  _ to be sipping hot chocolate in front of a fire in his parent’s living room. At least he had some sense of comfort in knowing that he wasn’t spending the blackout by himself and that if he needed anything, help was only a flight of stairs away.

Opening the door to his bedroom, he crossed and pulled the blanket off of his bed, dragging it out onto the balcony. 

He positioned the lounge chair closer to the building and went back inside to grab a drink and something to eat. If he was going to be stuck without power, at least he could sit outside and enjoy the cool December night.

Just as he was about to step back outside he heard a huge crash upstairs.

_ “Clifford! C’mon boy! Please settle down. I promise I’m looking for a flashlight...or something. Just give me a minute. It’s my birthday for fucks sake.” _

He felt a twinge of compassion. It was Christmas Eve, they were in the middle of a blackout and he was the only other person in the building. He also had not one, but  _ two _ extra flashlights. And now he had just overheard the man say that it was his birthday. He should at least go upstairs and introduce himself, bring the man a flashlight and maybe some of the Christmas cookies he had baked to bring with him to New York.

He put his beer bottle and bag of chips down on the counter, grabbed the extra flashlight and a tin of cookies and left his apartment.

He walked up the small flights of stairs, stopping in front of apartment 3A. Before he could second guess his decision, he pushed the doorbell. As soon as he lifted his finger he heard barking and commotion as both the dog and its owner came barreling towards the door.

Harry could hear the owner trying to calm his dog down, then watched as the door swung open.

Since the power was out he couldn’t completely make out the man’s face, but he could see some of the man’s features - like his jawline and cheekbones. Both of which looked as though they had been chiseled by a Renaissance sculptor.

He felt something rubbing against his leg and shone the flashlight down to the mop of black curls that was looking up at him.

“Cliff! Leave him alone. Come here buddy.”

Harry let out a small chuckle. “He’s fine. Seems friendly.” He placed the tin under his arm as he squatted down to pet the dog and was rewarded with Clifford licking his face.

“Yeah, he is. Sometimes a little too much.”

Standing up, he held out his hand. “I’m Harry. I live directly downstairs.”

“Louis,” he said, shaking Harry’s hand. “Nice to meet ya.”

“Likewise. Sorry I haven’t been up here sooner, things just...well, anyway, I couldn’t help but hear you say you were looking for a flashlight and I have an extra, so I just thought...plus I heard it was your birthday...here you go. Happy Birthday.”

He held the flashlight and the tin of cookies out and Louis accepted them. “Wow, thanks Harry, that’s...wow, that is so nice of you. You really didn’t have to do that. But, um, did you say...that you could  _ hear _ me?”

Running his hand through his hair, he looked down to the floor. “Well, see...it’s an old building and the sound travels through the vents, so...I can sort of hear most of what happens up here.”

“Oh my god.” Louis gasped, covering his mouth with his hand. “I am so sorry. I had absolutely no idea that you could hear everything. Fuck! I am so embarrassed. Why didn’t you ever say something before? Or yell at me?”

“Most of the time I can barely hear you. Besides, if I hadn’t heard you then I wouldn’t have known it was your birthday and I would have felt horrible knowing you were alone and in the dark.”

“But still. Fuck. Ok, well at least come in. You’re being so nice about this and you even brought me a flashlight. I have a pizza that was delivered just before the power went out, so come in and have some. Please.”

Harry still couldn’t really make out the man’s features and didn’t want to shine the light directly in his eyes, but for some reason Harry felt attracted to Louis and going home to a dark apartment on Christmas Eve didn’t seem very appealing when Louis was here, in front of him, asking him inside.

“Yeah. Sure. I’d like that.”

**********

“You can’t possibly be serious? I thought I was the only person who liked the original Deadpool movie better than the sequel.”

“Oh, I am totally being serious,” Louis said, taking a bite of his pizza.

Harry watched how the light from the cinnamon scented candle on the coffee table illuminated Louis’ face. His eyes seemed to be shining even in the dark.

Harry found himself attracted to Louis - not only because of his appearance, but they seemed to have a lot in common. Plus, he had laughed more in the short amount of time he’s been inside of Louis’ apartment than in the two years he’d been with Jeremy.

But...Harry had no idea if Louis was even into guys, let alone Harry. And it’s not as though he could just come right out and ask Louis, yet he needed to know.

“My ex used to insist on watching the sequel all the time and then he’d leave the room if I started watching the original.”

_ So his ex was a he,  _ Harry thought.  _ That answered the first part. _

“And then,” Louis continued. His gaze flickered from Harry’s eyes to his lips, lingering for a moment, watching as Harry licked his lips, before traveling back to his eyes.

_ I guess that answered the second part. _

“And then…?” Harry asked.

“Oh, sorry. And then if I was watching the first one Jeremy would come into the room and cause a scene - sighing, making noise, anything to get my attention away from the movie.”

“Wait.” Harry paused. “Wait a minute, did you just say Jeremy?”

“Yeah,” Louis answered. “Jeremy. My ex boyfriend, Jeremy Nichols. Why? Do you know him?”

“Jeremy Nichols?” Harry asked, swallowing hard. “Tall guy, wears glasses, a surgeon at Good Samaritan Hospital?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. Do you know him?” he repeated the question.

“He’s  _ my  _ ex boyfriend.”

Confusion crept onto Louis’ face. “What?  _ You  _ dated Jeremy Nichols?”

“Until I caught him in bed with another man.”

“I dated him until  _ I  _ caught him in bed with another man,” Louis said, silence falling over the room.

It lasted for a few moments, Harry was unsure of what to say to cut the tension that had appeared between them. He watched as a small smile slowly started to work its way onto Louis’ lips. Harry found that he couldn’t help it as his mouth turned upwards as well.  


And then it happened.

They both burst out into laughter. Harry felt tears running down his cheeks and twinges of pain in his stomach from how hard he was laughing.

“Oh man, this is classic,” Harry said, steadily gathering his composure. “What are the chances?”

Louis wiped away tears from his cheeks with the palms of his hands. “None to none. So, um...how long were you and Jeremy together?” Louis asked tentatively.

“About two years.” Harry responded. “We broke up in July.”

“We broke up in July as well, but I was only with him for a few months. It was never serious.”

“But that means…” Harry let his sentence fade away. “We were with him around the same time. This is...this is crazy, right?” Harry chuckled. “I mean what are the odds? In a city this big, like San Jose? That something like this would happen?”

Louis shrugged, looking down at the floor. Silence fell over the apartment for a moment before he spoke. “I’m...I’m really glad you’re not with him anymore. He doesn’t deserve someone like you.” 

He slowly raised his head, meeting Harry’s eyes which were filled with confusion.

“Why would you say something like that? You hardly even know me.”

Louis swallowed, taking a deep breath. “Well...I know that you’re kind since you came up here with an extra flashlight for me because you knew I didn’t have one. And I know what type of person Jeremy is like and you’re too good for him. I would never treat you like that.”

Harry gazed intently at Louis, trying to figure him out. Louis began licking his lips and Harry’s eyes traveled down, watching Louis’ tongue sweep across them.

Louis cleared his throat. “Can I get you another beer? Or a cookie?” he asked, smiling as he stood up and began walking towards the kitchen with the flashlight leading the way.

Harry stood up and followed him. “Yeah sure, thanks. You wanna know something? I actually know the guy who baked those cookies and you’re in for a treat - they are delicious.”

Louis let out a giggle, “I’m sure they are.” He began fumbling in the dark on the way to the kitchen and Harry reached out, putting one hand on the small of his back. He felt warmth coming through Louis’ shirt, so warm and so welcoming.

“Thanks,” Louis whispered, his voice raspy, breaking Harry from his trance.

“Of course.” He reluctantly let Louis go, missing the warmth as soon as he pulled his hand away.

He watched as Louis bent forward into the fridge, his eyes glued to Louis’ gloriously magnificent ass.

He leaned against the counter, wanting to ask Louis if he was currently available, wanting to know everything about Louis.

“So, why are you all alone on Christmas Eve?” he asked instead. “Fuck, shit, I’m really sorry that is totally  _ none _ of my business.”

Louis closed the fridge door, handing him a beer. “No, it’s fine. I originally had plans to be in Colorado with Jeremy until I...well, you know. Then I made plans to spend the week at my friend Niall’s place in Oregon, but he came down with a horrible case of the flu. And so by that time it was too late to book a flight home to London since all the flights were either full or too expensive. And so…” He raised his bottle as a salute, “Merry Christmas.”

Harry gave him a smile. “Well I’m glad that you’re here and Happy Birthday again,” he said honestly, catching sight as the moonlight shining in through the kitchen window, making Louis’ skin look porcelain. He raised his bottle in response before taking a long swig. He watched Louis take one as well, watched the lines of his neck as he swallowed, watched the pink of his lips as he moved the bottle away.

Louis raised one eyebrow at him, a small smile playing across his mouth.

Before either of them could do or say anything else, they heard a huge  _ THUD. _

“What was that?” Louis asked looking to the doorway then back to Harry.

Harry shrugged. “Sounded like it came from one of the bedrooms maybe.”

Louis pushed off of the counter and began walking across the kitchen, towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms, Harry following close behind, his hand finding the small of Louis’ back again. It felt natural for his hand to be there and Louis seemed to relax a little at Harry’s touch. The fact that he was able to calm the other man made his heart flutter and wake the butterflies in his stomach.

The lights began flickering as they stepped across the kitchen threshold. The room lit up, a movie began playing in the background.

“Finally,” Louis said, turning around to face Harry, his hand on Louis’ hip.

Now that the lights were on, he could get a good look at Louis. Fuck he was handsome. 

Louis smiled, crinkles reaching his eyes, his lip curling into a smirk. He raised his eyebrows, motioning for Harry to look directly above where they were standing.

Mistletoe.

Harry looked to Louis, then up again, then back to Louis, their gazes locking. He smiled back before leaning down and brushing his lips against Louis’.


End file.
